¡Martes Maravilloso!

I hope your long weekend was a good one.  My Monday was taken up with a visit to the dentist, but I'm grateful I didn't have to take time off from work so it's all good.

So it's Tuesday and we're off to another work week already, aren't we?  I made a little Martes Maravilloso graphic to start my classes and (hopefully) put a smile on everyone's face.  Attitude is half the battle; am I right?

I didn't draw the cute little giraffe - he was clip art.  That I know of, giraffes are in no way associated with Tuesdays - marvelous or otherwise.  I just thought he was so cute that only the grumpiest of the grumpies could resist him.

Don't forget it's Tuesday today . . . if you have Tuesday carpool duty, lunch duty, hall duty, etc.  It's not Monday!  :-)

I hope your week is a good one, amigos!

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Actividad Para Resolver Problemas

Problem solving and being a contributive team member are two of the Luddy Outcomes that we promote at our school.  See my post on November 17 for more information on the Luddy Outcomes, if you are interested.

Today I did a fun activity with my students to encourage both problem solving and teamwork.  It was a good activity because it wasn't too difficult, it didn't take long, and I gave them the instructions completely in Spanish to keep it relevant to my curriculum.

As a team they were presented with a task: Move the stacked cups from one desk to another without touching them.  The only materials I gave them were a couple short pieces of string and a rubber band.  Though I explained everything to them in Spanish, I did not give them a solution to the problem.  I wanted them to talk through it as a group and come up with a solution together (problem solving!).

In the end all of the groups came up with the same solution for moving the cups and it was, in fact, the recommended solution in the photos below.  They did try a number of different ideas at first but ultimately this was the most efficient way to take care of the problem.  The fun thing is that the task not only requires problem solving skills, but it also takes teamwork.  I don't think it would be possible for one person to accomplish it alone.

Unfortunately I heard them talking amongst themselves more in English than in Spanish, so if I do this activity again I think I will prepare them with some vocabulary and a quick review of command forms ahead of time.  In my studies of Vygotsky while working on my master's degree, I recall reading something along the lines of second language acquisition necessarily being different from first language acquisition because second language learners already have a language and we cannot ignore it.  Forgive the paraphrasing, please.  It's been years since I took that course but so much of what I learned there shapes what I do in the classroom today.

Onward and upward, amigos!

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

2014: Unleash Your Superhero!

Yesterday I was feeling depressed and out of sorts, but today I've awoken to a new day and I've decided to embrace a new philosophy: Unleash your superhero!  This slogan caught my eye and my imagination today.  The more I thought about it, the more I like it so I decided to bring it here to the blog. 

The FLANC conference, which I attended last October, was exciting and exhilarating, and the theme of the conference was superheroes.  The keynote speech was a clever talk likening world language teachers to superheroes, which I loved!  And at one point during the conference, the lights went out and when they came back on, one teacher at each table had donned a mask and was posing heroically.  I got such a kick out of that!

So I'm focusing today on that superhero spirit that dwells within me and sometimes makes its way to the surface.  You know what I'm talking about, don't you?  It's that part of you that decided to become a teacher even though you knew you were never going to make a lot of money, but you took that path anyway because you wanted to make a difference.   It's that part of you that learned a foreign language just so you could bridge the cultural gap and bring people closer together.  It's that part of you that stays up until midnight creating an awesome lesson because it means so much to you to get it right.  And it's that part of you that grades like a madman so your students can get their test results the next day.

My super powers list isn't long or impressive, but it's full of heart!  I speak multiple languages, I make creative and fun lessons, I can link Spanish vocabulary to SAT words, I make the most complicated grammar structures simple to understand, and I bring culture into everything! 

I bet you can do the same things too, so hooray for us!  We are Super World Language Teachers!  I might just show up in a cape and a mask one day this week . . . really, the kids would get a kick out of it. 

My new year's resolution this year is hard to define, but it is closely tied to this idea of unleashing your superhero.  Basically, I'm not going to diminish myself because others are uncomfortable with the fact that I'm smart, creative or talented.  I don't like putting it into words because, when I read that, it sounds wildly arrogant.  I'm not arrogant, but all too often I find myself among jealous and petty people who make everything about themselves, and I'm not going to play those backstabbing games.  I'm going to let my light shine at full wattage and I'm going to unleash my superhero. 

I hope you will do the same thing, amigos. 

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

El Año Nuevo

We have tracked back in and, I have to say, this is a particularly difficult time of year for me.  I deal with something akin to depression every year in January and February.  Whether you call it SAD or something else, it just becomes incredibly difficult for me to find motivation, inspiration, or much of anything.

Still, the students are here and the expectation is that I will rise to the occasion and offer stimulating and meaningful instruction . . . a difficult task when I'm not feeling it inside.  I put on a smile and go through the motions on difficult days and pretend.  It's a bit disconcerting how many people don't even seem to notice when I'm faking it.  I'm reminded of Paul McCartney's lyrics to Elanor Rigby, "Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door.  Who is it for?"

Now, more than ever, it is important to bring activities to class that are interesting, fun, and engaging.  Yesterday I had my Spanish IV students toss a ball around and, when it came to them, they had to share something with the class (in Spanish, of course).  Here are some topics for sharing:

A present you received for Christmas
Something fun you did over track-out
A resolution for the New Year
A wish/hope for the New Year
A Christmas tradition in your family
A New Year's tradition in your family

I only give them about 30 seconds from the prompt until I toss the ball, so they have to think fast.

It's important to have a very soft ball for this activity because it is easy for things to get carried away or for people to get hit by accident - even in an attentive group.

Today I brought in a couple of toys I got for Christmas that I'm going to share with the students, even though they don't have any direct connection to Spanish.  I can still introduce them and describe them in Spanish.  One is a Tetris lamp that lights up as you use it - extremely cool.  The other one might get me into trouble but I decided to risk it because the fun potential is so great.  It is an air gun which shoots a puff of air at people up to 20 feet away.  It doesn't do much more than ruffle your hair and papers, but it gets a great reaction from people.  The product is called Airzooka and it is a hoot and a half - honestly.

After we play for a bit, we are going to write New Year's resolutions and make predictions for the new year using the future tense.  I have until 5th period to come up with a way to make it super fun and engaging, but I think I can do it.

I don't get much in the way of comments and discussions here as a general rule, but if you have ideas for how you make your classes exciting on those days when you might not be feeling so excited yourself, I would love to hear them!  Any and all inspiration would be appreciated at this time, amigos.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Feliz Año Nuevo

¡Hola amigos!

I hope your holiday season went well and that your new year is off to a brilliant start.  I took a leave of absence from blogging while I spent time with family and took some time to exhale after a very busy end to the semester.

I took a small amount of time to play around with my graphics software and create an image that said Feliz Año Nuevo, and I'm sharing it here with you today.  I had fun with the gold, purple, and sparkles - and it just looks festive to me.

And then I made one more because I was having fun.  Still purple, but I used silver and confetti this time.

And then, since I was at it, I made several more!

Feel free to add them to any lesson or project you might be doing for the new year.

I want to let you know that I wish you the greatest joy, success, and love in the new year!

Con mucho amor,

--AnneK

Origami: Estrella De Navidad En Papel

I came across some great origami videos today in French and I got to thinking that there must be similar videos in Spanish.  What I found was a wide range of videos, many of them too complicated for classroom use and others a little too simple for my high schoolers.  However, there was one in particular that I felt was just right.

This video shows how to make a lovely Christmas star with origami.  The speaker has a Spanish accent and he speaks clearly and not too quickly.  The instructions are clear and the video helps out a lot for those who struggle with listening comprehension.  The speaker uses the vosotros, so this is a great opportunity to expose students to that oft-neglected verb form.

There are a couple of fussy parts about the folding.  All the best origami gets tricky in parts, but I think high school students who watch and listen carefully will be able to be successful. 

Gracias to Miguel for this great video.

¡Feliz Navidad, amigos!

--AnneK

Vocabulario de la Navidad

I recently posted a Power Point of Thanksgiving vocabulary that was very popular here and on Pinterest, so it occurred to me to create one for Christmas vocabulary as well.  I found some great pictures and I think it turned out very good.  Click here or click the picture below to download it.

Picking out the right vocabulary to use is always a challenge.  For this particular Power Point, I chose to focus on vocabulary that pertains to Christmas as it is understood by most people in North America.  The purpose of this is to give students vocabulary to talk about their own traditions and celebrations, so that they can communicate with others in Spanish.

I made a Power Point about Christmas (and other December & January holidays) as they are celebrated in the Spanish-speaking world and it is available for sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  That one is much longer and more detailed than this one (130 slides as opposed to 25), and it focuses on culture rather than vocabulary.  I encourage you to take a look at it and consider purchasing it as a complement to your other holiday activities.

I hope this Christmas vocabulary Power Point is useful to you.  I hope your students enjoy it and that it enables them to talk about the holidays in Spanish.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Repaso De Las Nacionalidades

For some reason the names of the Spanish-speaking countries, their capitals, and the nationalities associated with each pose a real challenge to students.  I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that they are items which require memorization (as opposed to contextual understanding) and many students are simply not interested in memorization.

I try to make it as interesting as possible.  I have colorful Power Point presentations, puzzles, games, songs, drawing activities, etc.  It doesn't matter.  Those student who refuse to learn them do poorly on that section of the midterm exam every year - without exception.

This saddens me, but I'm not one to go down without a fight, so I will continue to invent activities and practice in the hope that I'll catch a few more butterflies in my net before the midterm arrives (a week from today).

Here is a map labeling activity that is not going to win any awards for its originality or aesthetic appeal.  Nor are you going to throw a parade because its so contextually relevant; it's not.  But it makes a great quick review, extra credit, short homework, or supplement to all the other great stuff you do in class to cover the nationalities.

A few weeks back, I blogged about a nationalities game I had made.  It's a free download and it might be something you want to add to your nationalities repertoire.

I absolutely adore this video/chant on the countries and their capitals too.  It became a bit of a cult favorite in a couple of my classes a few years back.  It doesn't help with nationalities specifically, but it ties in with the geography theme.

I hope you found something useful here today, amigos.  Gracias por pasar por aquí.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Teachers Pay Teachers

Amigos, we all know that we didn't go into the teaching profession with visions of dollar signs in our heads.  We love young people, love our subject matter, enjoy being creative and nurturing, and we want to make a positive impact on the future . . . but we knew we weren't going to get rich in the process.  Am I right?

Still, there are mortgages, light bills, orthodontics, car payments, school clothes, and a thousand other things that mercilessly deplete our bank accounts without regard to how much positive work we are doing with our students or how well we meet the standards.

I'm a creative sort of person and I've been making my own materials for years, many of which I share here with my readers for free.  I think I speak for most teachers when I say that we naturally want to share and to enrich the education world.  Some of my resources I have put extra effort into making suitable for sale, and I have put those products on Teachers Pay Teachers in my digital store.

These are some of my best efforts at creating material that I believe will be useful to my fellow Spanish teachers.  I think they are interesting, beautiful, and they rock the standards.  But I don't want to brag.  :-)

Los Colores

Teach the colors in a cultural context with beautiful photos

La Navidad

A photographic tour of Christmas and other "winter" holidays (text in English)

El Arte Subacuático 

A multimedia lesson on art and tourism set in Cancun, Mexico

El Día de Acción de Gracias

A reading and exploration lesson with a Thanksgiving theme

Winter Holidays Power Point Backgrounds

Make your lessons seasonal, colorful and beautiful

I also have free lessons in my TPT store, such gems as: Car Gar Zar Verbs in the Preterite (a free grammar lesson that includes a quiz and a culture extension), a free sample pack of Power Point backgrounds to make your lessons lovely, The Beautiful Colors of Mexico Power Point that shows some lovely photography so students can appreciate the diversity of Mexico and leave behind their stereotypes.

It seems like we are all so hesitant to pay for something online, as if everything in the digital world should be free or cost, at most, 99 cents.  At the same time we mindlessly shell out $5 or more for coffee drinks and $4 for a single gallon of gas.  The mindset is a mystery to me.

Your time is worthwhile.  Don't waste it by reinventing the wheel every year!  Honestly, ask me how long it took me to create the Los Colores Power Point presentation.  (Hours and hours, amigos.  I had to search the web for the best pictures to represent each color and also demonstrate the culture of a multitude of Spanish-speaking countries.  I wrote sentences that would be informative and interesting, but not beyond the abilities of beginning students.  I formatted images, backgrounds, slide order . . . made a quiz.  I cross referenced the standards and wrote extension activities.  I contacted photographers and wrote attribution for their photos.)

Could you do it yourself?  Yes, of course you could.  But it would take you hours and hours . . . or you could pay $3.50 and get the one that has already been made.  Use it with all your Spanish I classes, then use it again next year and the year after that.  Use it as a quick review with your Spanish II classes too.  Your lesson will be colorful, cultural, contextual, and your students will appreciate getting to close the textbook for a few minutes.

Think about it, will you?

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

¿Qué es vida?

What is life?  I suppose that is a rather existential way to begin a blog post, but I am actually referring to an ad campaign by the Spanish food company Helios.  The video is warm and easily understood, even by beginners.

So, you know me, I had to make an activity to accompany it.  I mean, it's one thing to show a little video to the class.  That is always well received.  It is quite another thing to make an activity that gets my students to think, create, share, and explore.  Then it's something I can feel great about giving my students.

You can click here to get a copy of the file or you can click on the image itself.

As I was working on it, the thought occurred to me that it would make a great activity to leave with Spanish I students (or early in the year with Spanish II students) with a substitute.  The only trick would be to make sure that the students had access to a computer.  I even made a second version of it with the instructions in English so that you don't have to panic your substitute.  Both versions are contained in the same file.  You can just print the one that you need.

I hope you get some use out of it and I would love to hear from you!

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Verbos Como Gustar

Heaven help us and the verbs like gustar.  This is one of the hardest things for English-speaking students of Spanish to do properly.  It seems like I have to review it every single year, and even then I still occasionally hear a Spanish III student say "Yo gusto". 

I came across this cute image on Pinterest recently from Online Spanish Sonora ELE.  If the text is to be believed, then credit for the image and the great idea goes to Patricia. 

 

I looked it over and decided it was a great way to practice and personalize verbs like gustar.  So I gave my students a little time and asked them to read over what Patricia had written and then make a similar activity themselves.  I thought they did a great job with the task and I've linked a couple of examples of their work below.  (Please keep in mind this was a 15-20 minute activity - not a big project.)

Click on either portrait to take a closer look at it.

I put identity blindfolds on them, deleted their home towns, and changed their names - of course.  If you don't have computers available to you at school, this activity could be easily done on paper and students could draw their own portraits.  

I hope that this review of gustar proves to be fun and useful, amigos.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Después De Las Fiestas

Monday we were back in school after a week of Thanksgiving vacation.  I wanted to follow up with my students about what they had done over break, but I wanted to do something a little different than my usual activities in my Spanish IV class so I decided to approach things a little bit differently.

I told my students to write 8-10 interview questions about Thanksgiving and the vacation days, then I had them pair up and interview one another.  They were asked to record the answers they got so that they could make an informal presentation to the class.  In this way I had them talking, writing, and presenting - all in Spanish.  And they got practice to practice with the preterite and imperfect (always needed, even at level IV) in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd persons too - in an interpersonal and a presentational context.

One of my students ("April" from a post I made back in September) decided to go all out and make a Power Point to do her presentation.  I hadn't expected that, but it was a fun bonus.  The questions she asked are at the top of each slide, then then answer is below in the third person.  You can click if you want to see the presentation.

I thought it would be nice to share this with you because I know how frustrating it is to get kids to talk when they first come back from a break.  Getting them to talk about someone else however, that seems to work like a charm.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

La Voz Interior

In addition to my 80 kids at school, I'm blessed to be a mother of three wonderful young people.  My oldest daughter is 20, my middle daughter is 15 and is a sophomore at the school where I teach, and my "cherry on top" is my 4-year-old son.  That is a lot of kids in my life - each of them special and beloved in their own way.

As parents and teachers, we occasionally have moments in our lives when we come across some wisdom that puts everything into sharp focus.  I had a moment like that today when I was looking at Pinterest and I saw this little graphic:

It is simple but it speaks to a very profound truth; one that is a little unsettling in its implications when we put our minds to the immense power we have.  I feel certain this quote was originally directed toward parents but, as teachers, we wield this power at a level that no one else does.  Year after year, we teach dozens of children.  And believe me, what we say and how we say it matters a great deal to our students.   If my teachers had not been the voices of patience, encouragement, and serenity in my life . . . I don't know what would have become of me or where I would be today.

Just a thought, amigos.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

Feliz Navidad

I went looking for an image that said "Feliz Navidad" on it this morning and I came across an abundance of images.  I figured I would collect them all in one space and make them easily available so that you don't have to sort through any sort foolishness online.

Some are even animated GIFs . . . ¡Lindo!

Many of the above images are not culturally relevant and they can give you an opportunity to discuss the differences in how the holiday is celebrated in the Spanish-speaking and the English-speaking worlds.  My students are always surprised to learn that snow, Santa, stockings, candy canes, and presents are not traditionally part of the Hispanic celebration of Navidad.  (Though things are changing as time marches on . . . no hay remedio.)

It might be a fun activity to get them to design their own graphic with imagery that is more relevant to the Hispanic holiday . . . maybe with an image of the three kings, Christmas tamales (yum!), poinsettias, or a piñata.  Educational and entertaining!  (And, of course, it would be a good opportunity to explain again why a guy in a big hat leaning against a cactus would not be a good choice.)

Just a note, I do not own the copyright to any of the above images.  They were found online and I'm just putting them here so they can be made available for educational purposes.

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK

¿Luego Qué Pasa?

Pictures are a great way to stimulate thought, imagination, and conversation both in and out of the classroom.  They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and, if I could ever get that amount of talk from a student, I would count it as quite the coup.  Some pictures provide a better opportunity for discussion than others, of course.

The following are a few pictures that I found online, here and there.  They are unusual and call for a bit of imagination to develop a background story, then they require more imagination to discuss what would happen next.  It's a great way to use present perfect and future tenses at level III, or you could just allow students to describe the picture in the present or the present progressive.

 

 

 

 

As an extension, it would be fun if students brought in their own pictures (either originals or ones they found online) to exchange with each other and discuss even more.

Have fun with them, amigos!

Hasta pronto,

--AnneK